The Next Wave of Bloggers

Word is starting to spread about Zoundry, and we're getting interest from people who don't currently have a blog but want to start one in order to use our service. We point new bloggers to our Getting Started with Blogging Guide that helps them think through the process of starting a blog. If you know of other good resources for new bloggers, I invite you to add them as a comment.

Here's a prediction: Our new bloggers will not identify themselves as "bloggers." Given mainstream media's coverage of blogging, many people think of bloggers as fanatics or exhibitionists generally on the fringes of society. I don't think that's the reality at all. I've always thought of blogs as an easier way of creating a web site, and bloggers as the next generation of web site publishers. When web sites first became popular in the 90's, I don't recall the mainstream media labeling people who created web sites as fringe extremists. In fact, I remember a very populist vision that web sites would one day give a voice to everyone. That vision wasn't realized because web site publishing wasn't as easy as people thought. But the simplicity of blogs give this new medium the ability to succeed where web sites did not.

We're excited to motivate a new wave of people to start publishing with blogging tools, especially those without any knowledge of HTML or other web technologies. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 7% of U.S. Internet users, or roughly 8 million people, have created blogs and 32 million people read blogs. We want to get those numbers higher. Our approach is two-fold: 1) make it easier for people to write and edit blogs through our Blog Writer software, and 2) allow friends and family to make money through blogs by sharing their product knowledge and pooling their purchasing power.